Building a Real Estate Marketing Stickiness Strategy
A lot of real estate agents will say that the main objective of their marketing efforts is to generate leads. And while generating leads is obviously a big part of why you have a marketing strategy in the first place, to be successful, you have to think beyond just getting someone’s attention once.
The term “generating leads” is too general, at least from a marketing perspective. A more effective approach is to think about generating contacts, meaning real, identifiable people who are discovering you for the first time, and then making sure they remember you afterward.
For example, if someone fills in their email address on your website to see a listing price, is that a lead? Most agents wouldn’t know what to do with just an email address. And if you reached out to them right away just because they entered their email, they’re likely to see that as aggressive rather than helpful.
Instead, a stronger approach is to have a stickiness strategy in place that keeps your brand visible to those people over time, so that when they’re ready to make a real estate decision, they reach out to you because they remember you, not because you chased them.
Stickiness is about making sure people remember you after they’ve discovered you. As part of your marketing strategy, you have two main goals: help people discover you for the first time, and make sure they remember you afterward. The first goal is your discovery strategy. The second is your stickiness strategy.
Your Discovery Strategy
Your discovery strategy is how someone first encounters you, your brand, or your business. That could happen through a search result, a social media post, a referral from a friend, an AI platform recommendation, a paid ad, or any other channel that puts you in front of someone for the first time.
How they discover you matters less than the impression you make when they do. Your brand should look professional, consistent, and aligned with what your target audience is looking for, because the first interaction someone has with your brand is what determines whether they engage further or move on.
The discovery stage is important, but it’s only half of the strategy. Getting discovered is not the same as being remembered. The real value comes from what happens after that first interaction.
★ Want to learn more about building your discovery strategy? Have a look at these posts:
- Building a Marketing Discoverability Strategy
- How to Build an Online Presence Strategy for Your Real Estate Brand
- Using Familiarity in Your Marketing Strategy to Get More Business
Your Stickiness Strategy
Your stickiness strategy is how someone is continually reminded that you, your brand, and your business exist after they’ve first discovered you.
Because of the nature of real estate, it’s rarely the case that someone discovers you and is ready to transact immediately. There’s often a gap of weeks, months, or even years between when someone first encounters your brand and when they’re ready to make a decision. Your stickiness strategy is what keeps you visible and top of mind during that gap, so that when the time comes, they think of you first.
The most effective stickiness strategies cover multiple channels, because no single person in your audience is going to see every piece of marketing you produce. The more touchpoints you create across different channels, the more opportunities you have to be remembered.
For example, a strong stickiness strategy could include:
- Your content strategy, where people consistently return to your website to read new, helpful content that’s relevant to their situation.
- Your email marketing, where people regularly receive value-based emails that keep your brand visible and give them a reason to engage.
- Your social media, where people see your posts, your content, and your brand on a regular basis as they scroll through their feeds.
- Your retargeting advertising, where people who have already visited your website continue to see your brand as they browse other websites and platforms.
- Your online presence, where your brand appears consistently across your website, your review profiles, and any other place someone might encounter you online.
The goal of your stickiness strategy isn’t to sell. It’s to stay visible, stay valuable, and stay top of mind so that when someone in your audience is ready to make a real estate decision, your name is the first one they think of.
You don’t need to do all of these to be successful, but the more channels you cover consistently, the more opportunities you create to be remembered.
★ Want to learn more about building a strategy that keeps your audience engaged? Have a look at these posts:
- Creating a Returning Visitors Marketing Strategy
- Building an Inbound Email Marketing Strategy
- Planning an End-to-End Brand Experience for Your Real Estate Business
Stickiness Also Strengthens Your AI Visibility
The consistency that makes your brand sticky with your audience also makes it sticky with AI platforms. When AI platforms are building a picture of who you are and whether to recommend you, they look at the consistency of your brand across multiple sources, your website, your content, your reviews, and your mentions on other websites.
A brand that appears consistently across multiple credible channels sends a stronger signal to AI platforms than one that appears in a single place. That means the work you do to build your stickiness strategy, through your content, your email marketing, your social media, and your online presence, also directly contributes to your AI visibility.
Make Them Remember You
It’s harder than ever to capture someone’s attention, and it’s even harder to keep it. A solid stickiness strategy is one of the best ways to stay present in your audience’s mind over time, so that when the moment comes to make a real estate decision, you’re the agent they think of first.
If you don’t remind them that you exist, someone else will, and eventually, they’re likely to choose the agent they remember over the one they’ve forgotten.
Want to get better, more qualified leads and build your authority? Our Inbound Marketing Guide is a walkthrough of the overall philosophy of inbound marketing, why it’s effective, and how you can build it into your own real estate marketing strategy to get better marketing results.
